It was the last day of May, only weeks left of school. Jem was extremely antsy for the end of the day, tapping her pen and continually glancing at the clock. As soon as they were dismissed, she took off running to the spot where she would meet her favorite boy.
Zero went to meet Jem where he did every day after the switchover, but she wasn't there. He was confused by this. It had never happened before. He looked around to see if she was nearby, but she was nowhere to be found. He walked over to where he could see the rocks. She wasn't there either. Maybe she was waiting for him at the boys' dorm? She wasn't. He looked all over the place, starting to feel a little worried. However, he did not have to check every corner before he found her.
She was sitting at the top of the stairs that led to the road, on one of the thick rock rails, excitedly and anxiously kicking her feet. She seemed almost giddy.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked when he reached her.
She turned her head. "Oh, hey Zero! Sorry, I should have told you I wouldn't be meeting you today. I have plans!" she exclaimed.
"What kind of plans?" he asked suspiciously.
Just then, a car drove up and parked at the bottom of the stairs. All of Jem's attention was on it, as though she were about to burst. A boy climbed out with the same platinum hair color as hers. Even from all the way down there, anyone could still see the way he lit up when he saw his sister.
"Happy Birthday, Jude!" Jemmea shouted down excitedly.
"Happy Birthday, Jemmie!" he called back.
She promptly left her perch and ran galloping down the stairs, Jude ascending them at his own pace. Far above, Zero watched skeptically as she threw herself in her brother's arms. He lifted her off the ground, his eyes closed, her head on his shoulder. He turned about 90 degrees before he set her down and they stood back to talk to each other. "Have you been into the town here?" he asked her.
"No," she answered, smiling and shaking her head.
"Want to go see what it has to offer?" he suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," she replied.
"All right, you ready for this?" he asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe," she answered as they turned to get back in the car.
Zero watched silently from the top of the stairs, his eyebrows lowered. He had a bad feeling about this.
It was extremely late in the night, rather very early in the morning, when Jem returned. Zero had been watching for her. As soon as he saw the car lights, he went and stood spitefully at the top of the stairs, his hands in his pockets.
Jem climbed out of the car with her brother. They were both in a fit of laughter and could hardly stand. They started to stumble up the stairs, saying things that made no sense to Zero.
When they were part of the way up, Zero couldn't stand it anymore and he started to descend the stairs. When he was close, Jem looked up and saw him. "Zer-O!" she chanted. "You waiting to wish me happy birthday?"
But he didn't respond to her remarks. "It's time for you to leave," he told Jude as he grabbed Jem's wrist and turned back.
"Zero, what the hell?" Jem asked as he pulled her along the first few steps.
"Hey, you can't do that to my sister!" Jude said as he ran up in front of Zero, cutting him off.
"Oh, but you can do this to her?" Zero accused, pulling at her and bending Jem's arm so she had to stand right next to him. She still teetered a little bit, her eyes completely bloodshot.
"Look here, Orion-" Jude started to argue before Jem cut him off.
"Oh Jude, please don't call him that, it makes me really uncomfortable," Jem requested, still rocking, her eyes unfocused.
"Why?" Jude implored irately.
"Why? You know why!"
"You're not defending this guy are you?" Jude accused.
"Jude," uttered Jem, keeping her balance to take the couple steps toward him. She reached out to hug him and Zero let go of her. "I don't want the night to end like this, so let's call it a night, ok? I'm so happy to see you."
Jude glared at Zero before lowering his head to embrace his sister, twisting a little back and forth as he did. "I love you, Jemmie. I miss you."
"I love you too, Jude," she said quietly. They let go and in her disordered state she fell back a little, Zero catching her.
"Now leave," commanded Zero as he stood her up. He took her hand, leading her around her twin.
Jude watched as they left, Jem turning to look back at him. Jude resentfully turned, then slowly descended the stairs.
Zero held firm as he charged ahead, Jem struggling to keep up with him. She was constantly tripping, and only still stood because of his tight hold on her. "If only you could see yourself right now," he spat angrily. When they stepped onto the bridge to the Sun Dorm, Zero spun around. He grabbed her arm opposite to his and turned her to her side.
"Zero, what are you doing?" Jem asked as she tried to turn back, but only teetered a bit in his grasp.
"What did he give you?" Zero imposed as he reached into her pocket and took out several small plastic bags. "You have to be kidding me," he breathed
"Zero! Hey! Cut it out!" He roughly spun her and did the same thing to her other side. "Oh no, Zero. Not my cloves! Anything but my cloves, they're my favorite! It's my birthday, Zero, come on!"
He let go of her and walked hastily over to the side of the bridge. He threw all of the substances as far as he was capable, and they tumbled down into the ocean. He quickly spun around. "Why do you do this? I've come to know you, and this isn't the person you are at all! I don't understand," he yelled, more than frustrated with her.
"Because," Jem answered painfully, "Jude has been the only person in my life to ever truly care about me."
"Do you really still believe that?" Zero shouted, and Jem sensed a little bit of hurt in his question, and she was a little surprised. He turned away and barked, "Come on." She stood there for a moment, still a little stunned at what had just happened. He turned over his shoulder and demanded more fiercely, "Come on!"
She started to walk hastily to keep with him. As she walked, she crossed her arms over herself and cast her eyes down, ashamed.
When they arrived at the girls' dorm, he opened the door for her. "Just go to your room, I'm not walking you there tonight. I can't even look at you right now." And indeed, he looked away, refusing to cast his eyes on her. She bowed her head as she walked past him. Zero promptly shut the door when she entered before she could even turn around.
Looking at the door, she kept her body to herself, only moving one arm from its crossed state to hastily wipe a tear away. She turned and went back to her room, hoping she could do one thing right by him tonight.